To understand the patent phoniness
of the Republican debate over immigration,
and the very real evil that is behind it, we must resort to the language
of professional “wrestling” -- an undertaking nearly as
fraudulent, but nowhere near as malicious or corrupt, as politics.

In wrestling, a “work” is a staged
event in which the outcome is foreordained – the participant (“competitor”
isn't the right word) designed the winner will prevail in order to advance
the intended storyline.

A work stands in contrast to a “shoot”:
In the words of the great Lou Thesz, whose career included both, in
a shoot the wrestlers are fighting for “money, marbles, or chalk”
-- that is, they're involved in a real match for tangible stakes.

Since the 1930s, very few pro “wrestling”
matches have been “shoots.” Promoters learned that it was
more profitable to control process through which champions and contenders
were chosen, thereby cultivating marketable personalities that could
attract crowds across large territories.

Although “works” could often involve
real bloodletting and injury (this is sometimes called a "work-shoot"),
they are always exercises in controlled mayhem, with a scripted outcome.

Apart from what occasionally happens in a few smaller
regional promotions, the people running the steroid-enhanced soap opera
that is Pro Wrestling keep it untainted by authentic competition. The
objective is to devise and promote audience-grabbing "angles,"
or storylines.

The same is true of the malignant – and increasingly
murderous – farce that is American politics.

The only political objective the Bush regime cares
about right now is to preserve the Republican majority in the House
of Representatives, where impeachment proceedings or serious investigations
(albeit of an undisguised partisan variety) may erupt should the Democrats
take control.

To that end, the Republican Party is preparing
for a multi-city tag-team “Battle Royale” pitting House
“conservatives” against Senate “moderates” over
the issue of immigration.

As USA Today puts it: “The congressional
immigration debate took on the trappings of a national political campaign
... as each side planned a series of made-for-media events across the
country to highlight the pros and cons of granting illegal immigrants
a chance at citizenship.... The dueling hearings are unusual because
both the House and Senate have already passed legislation. Normally,
the next step would be a House-Senate conference committee to reconcile
differences between the bills. That now will be put off while both sides
take their case to the public over the summer.”

The Los Angeles Times plays up what wrestling fans
would call the “Heel turn” taken by either George W. Bush
or the House Republicans: “The unorthodox plan by House Republicans
for a series of hearings on immigration policy represents an aggressive
effort by hard-line critics of illegal immigration to reassert control
over the emotional debate — and wrest it from President Bush —
as this year's elections approach.”

Anybody familiar with pro wrestling knows that
if the apparent outcome of a “worked” match defies expectations,
it will be reversed through an outrageous and unfair development.

For instance, the “referee” may be
temporarily knocked unconscious, missing the pinfall by which the Babyface
(good guy) wins the match, only to be dramatically roused from his stupor
long enough to award the victory to the Heel.

Or perhaps the match will degenerate into what
is called a “schmazz” -- an ending in which the good guy
appears to win, as wrestlers from the contending camps pour into the
ring, hurling chairs and other objects at each other in what appears
to be a chaotic melee. Of course, that apparent victory is reversed
on further review.

For promoters looking to create and exploit “heat”
among the audience, either of those outcomes is desirable, since it
reinforces the image of the Babyface as the innocently wronged champion.

This is exactly the image House Republicans are
trying to sell to the conservative public – in order to advance
the White House's objectives: No impeachment or serious inquiry into
administration wrongdoing, and eventual enactment of amnesty in some
form.

That's right.

Write this prediction down in ink: If the Republicans
succeed in using the issue of border enforcement to retain control over
Congress, we will get amnesty anyway – maybe in a lame-duck session,
most likely no later than a year from now.

How can I say this with such assuredness?

Easy: That's the position staked out in the most
recent manifesto issued by the self-appointed leaders of “respectable”
conservatism.

The “open letter” from the Hudson Institute,
signed by a bevy of faux conservatives – from William F. Buckley
to Bill Bennett to David Horowitz (as well as the occasional misled
legitimate conservative, such as Phyllis Schlafly) – declares:

“We favor what Newt Gingrich has described
as `sequencing.' First border and interior enforcement must be funded,
operational, implemented, and proven successful – and only then
can we debate the status of current illegal immigrants, or at least
the need for new guest worker programs.”

In principle, this differs not at all from George
W. Bush's approach, which is to enhance border enforcement – and
then nullify it by granting amnesty and tearing down our border with
Mexico through the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

One thing we see here is that Gingrich –
though abundantly disgraced and in bad odor with legitimate conservatives
– hasn't lost his mojo as a judas goat.

Back in 1994, when the grassroots were in full
rebellion against both the Clinton administration and the Washington
Establishment,
Gingrich cobbled together a “Contract With America” intended
to nationalize the congressional elections. The idea was to impose message
discipline on Republican candidates – to take untamed populist
conservatives and break them to the saddle of the Beltway GOP leadership.

And immediately after the Republican victory in
November, Gingrich and Senate GOP leader Bob Dole sold the grassroots
out by holding a lame-duck session to approve US membership in the World
Trade Organization, opposition to which was exactly the kind of issue
that propelled Republican congressional candidates to victory at the
polls. Gingrich and Dole made sure that the debate over the WTO ended
before the new Congress could convene.

This is exactly the type of perfidy we're dealing
with here – and the conservative movement, without exception,
is falling for it. Which makes me think that the movement is being led
by the kind of people who are surprised when the results of WWE events
aren't reported in the sports section.

The details of the current sell-out differ from
the 1994 edition, of course. For instance, rather than being a hands-on
political player, Gingrich is a presumptive presidential candidate and
GOP dogmatist without portfolio. And it's possible, given the extent
to which the Republican congressional leadership has turned their party
into a support mechanism for Bush's authoritarian personality cult,
that no lame duck session would be necessary.

But the fact remains that a Republican victory
in November will mean amnesty in some form for illegal immigrants, a
renewed push for merger with Mexico, and – most importantly –
an even more vigorous drive to build a domestic garrison state on a
permanent war footing.

In fact, the Hudson Institute manifesto makes that
pretty clear:

“We are in the middle of a global war on
terror.... Today, we need proof that enforcement (both at the border
and in the interior) is successful before anything else happens.”

A step-to-the-side translation of this would be:
Build the police state first, and then we can talk about amnesty.

Militarizing the border would certainly go a long
way toward that objective.

For a long time our would-be rulers have been looking
for an issue that could entice people into surrendering their freedoms:
The threat of Communism, the scourge of narcotics, the menace of international
terrorism.... They seem to identified the threat of illegal immigration
as just the thing they've been searching for. Right now, tens of millions
of conservatives, including many who have been suspicious about the
Patriot (sic) Act and similar measures, appear willing to submit to
invasive, militarized enforcement measures in order to curb illegal
immigration.

This fits nicely into the “angle” being
scripted by the GOP, as well. As long as we're talking about immigration,
we're not paying attention as the Bush regime builds the Reich around
us.

No matter what tumult or conflict is orchestrated
for our consumption over the next several months, the public has to
remember: This isn't a real debate, it's a "work," and the
angle it is advancing will end with the extinction of our existence
as a constitutional republic.

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